Return To Sea
by Jenifer Ashley
Summary: Sometimes even fairy tales have to end...


War. It is never an easy thing to handle. Many kingdoms have fallen to the blood thirst of their own people. It is never an easy thing to thing to return from, and countless lives are lost each time. Some want to say they do all they can. Try to listen to reason and avoid wars while doing what needs to be done to keep the kingdom alive. At least, that was what she told herself as she stood over the cliffs edge looking at the water. She wanted nothing more than to join those waves.

Years had changed her, her once long beautiful vivid red hair was now short, barely tickling her shoulders, with streaks of gray. Her body though still lean and tall, showed obvious signs of age. Her stomach had stretchmarks from childbirth. A scar on her legs from a battle long since forgotten. She wondered if the ocean would even welcome her back, she no longer resembled the princess who had left its waters innocent and young.

Eric. That name still made her heart sing. He had been her first true love, the one she had given up her old life for. Together they had raised a family, ruled a kingdom, and lived happily, until the wars began. At first the rumors of unrest in the kingdom seemed like a joke, a few farmers upset over raised taxes. Nothing to worry about. Then with each month more and more rumors reached the king and Queens's ears. Then their son, Charles, was attacked while riding out to visit a neighboring kingdom. That had been the last straw; King Eric, despite his queens pleads for peace, had declared war on his subjects, something that was met with great strife.

They attacked swiftly, almost as if they had been planning it for years. With one swift movement the entire kingdom was upon the castle. They stormed it, leaving a sea of blood and bodies in their wake. Their daughter, Melody, had been away visiting her grandfather, when she returned mid-chaos, she was met by a sword, and her father's cry had reached even the Queen, who had been sent to hide in a hidden room beneath the dungeon.

Hours later, as the ding of swords and yells died down to an eerie silence, she left her hideaway in search of her family. Bodies littered the once beautiful castle. Blood splattered the granite floors and the marble walls. Max, a loyal and loving canine, was gutted on the dining table, blood matting his coat. She stopped and shed tears for her fallen friend, but what stopped her in her tracks was something no parent should be force to see.

Her eldest, Melody, the spitting image of her mother except for her father's raven black hair lay slain by the front door, her dress torn off her, her naked body sprawled spread eagle on the floor with the man who had violated her on top, King Eric's sword still in his back, running to her daughter she found her still barely alive, a dagger in her chest and tears in her eyes. Pushing the man off her she pulled her daughter into her lap and brushed the hair away from her face. Cradling her to her bosom had she had so many years ago she cried into Melody's hair as she felt the life fade from her frail body.

Refusing to let go of the child she looked around the rest of the room, guards and towns people, as well as bodies she did not recognize, probably reinforcements the townspeople had enlisted in their battle, scattered the once beautiful castle. How had it come to this? She wondered tearfully. What had caused their peaceful kingdom to come to such an end? Finally, after what seemed like eons she laid her daughter down, covered her body with the remains of her dress and turned from the castle.

A familiar face, lying in the rose bushes outside the castle stopped her in her tracks and shattered what might have been left of her heart. Eric, her prince. Her king. Her love. Beheaded, his body further down the path. She couldn't bear to look any longer, grabbing his sword from the beheaded body she ran with tears in her eyes towards the cliff behind their castle.

And now here she stood. The ocean lightly spraying on her face as waves hit the rocks below. Somehow she still couldn't believe, didn't want to believe. She wanted to believe it was all just a dream, a horrible dream. "As soon as I hit the water I'll wake up!" She yelled into the open waters, though deep down she knew. Knew it wasn't a dream… Not even dreams could be this horrible.

With one last tearful glance back at the castle they had called their home for so long she raised Eric's sword before her and swiftly plunged it into her chest. The light in her eyes faded as she fell into the waves before her. Almost instantly the waves swallowed her, her dress floated back up to crash against the cliff, but her body was no more. Ariel had finally rejoined the sea.


End file.
